So, did you think I'd faded into the woodwork? (Woodwork, because I'm a woodworker...get it? OK, back to work...)
I did indeed get the roof done and just in time. While it's a HUGE relief to finally have a reliably dry workspace, that only started the real work. You saw how rough and raw it was, well, some of my peers even said they would've torn it down and started over, not me. I had to do it the hard, slow way. I've been reworking the framing from the inside to add more insulation as I can afford it while also maintaining the ability to livestream. Well, the 10-year-old lightning-struck hardware hasn't been keeping up with the stream and is dropping frames, so what do I do? Yep, built a new PC. I'd share it here but it is far from SFF. The new rig is a full ATX so I have enough slots for USB quad-host cards for all the cameras I run. I even built it with a Ryzen 5 2400G just to save a slot for cards. Since it's in a potentially dusty environment I wracked my brain for a cooling solution that wouldn't freeze in the unheated space and finally settled on fanless. It's built on a Thermaltake Core P5 open air case to take the most advantage of convection cooling and is mounted on a cross beam to keep it out of harm's way when doing woodworking projects and pulls down on a gas shock assisted mount designed for TVs mounted above fireplaces when I need to work on it.
After getting about that far, cabling has become the issue. Today I installed a bunch of custom brackets for a bunch of custom camera booms for cameras mounted to the ceiling. Next I'll be routing and running all the USB cables after already redoing all the temporary power cables with heavy duty distribution cords, separating power from lighting circuits and a whole lot more before the new PC is in action. Maybe, just maybe after I get all of that settled I can think about pulling out all the NAS project stuff and get busy with it again. As predicted, M.2 SSD prices have come down even further so the delay has just made it more feasible. Believe me, I'd rather be working on this project, but the dream of a clean, finished, well-lit, organized, comfortable and very flexible work space is an enticing enchantress. My apologies fellow enthusiasts, sorry, not sorry.
I did indeed get the roof done and just in time. While it's a HUGE relief to finally have a reliably dry workspace, that only started the real work. You saw how rough and raw it was, well, some of my peers even said they would've torn it down and started over, not me. I had to do it the hard, slow way. I've been reworking the framing from the inside to add more insulation as I can afford it while also maintaining the ability to livestream. Well, the 10-year-old lightning-struck hardware hasn't been keeping up with the stream and is dropping frames, so what do I do? Yep, built a new PC. I'd share it here but it is far from SFF. The new rig is a full ATX so I have enough slots for USB quad-host cards for all the cameras I run. I even built it with a Ryzen 5 2400G just to save a slot for cards. Since it's in a potentially dusty environment I wracked my brain for a cooling solution that wouldn't freeze in the unheated space and finally settled on fanless. It's built on a Thermaltake Core P5 open air case to take the most advantage of convection cooling and is mounted on a cross beam to keep it out of harm's way when doing woodworking projects and pulls down on a gas shock assisted mount designed for TVs mounted above fireplaces when I need to work on it.
After getting about that far, cabling has become the issue. Today I installed a bunch of custom brackets for a bunch of custom camera booms for cameras mounted to the ceiling. Next I'll be routing and running all the USB cables after already redoing all the temporary power cables with heavy duty distribution cords, separating power from lighting circuits and a whole lot more before the new PC is in action. Maybe, just maybe after I get all of that settled I can think about pulling out all the NAS project stuff and get busy with it again. As predicted, M.2 SSD prices have come down even further so the delay has just made it more feasible. Believe me, I'd rather be working on this project, but the dream of a clean, finished, well-lit, organized, comfortable and very flexible work space is an enticing enchantress. My apologies fellow enthusiasts, sorry, not sorry.
